Woodwind instrument body



March 14, 1967 A. BRlLHART 3,308,706

WOODWIND INSTRUMENT BODY Filed April 50, 1963 2 sheets-sheet 1 INVENTOR I BY Arnold Brilhorr 75 #WA TORNEYS 2 Sheets-$heet 2 Run @Aw #WTTORNEE March 14, 1967 A. BRlLHART WOODWIND INSTRUMENT BODY Filed April 30, 1963 United States Patent() 3,308,706 WGODWIND KNSTRUMENT BODY Arnold Briihart, Carlsbad, Calif., assignor to Brilhart Musical Instrument Corporation, Carlsbad, Calif., a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 30, 1963, Ser. No. 276,911 Claims. (Cl. 84-380) This invention relates to a non-metallic wood-wind instrument body and to a process for making the same. It more particularly relates to an instrument body composed of resin impregnated fibers, from which Clarinets, flutes, oboes, English horns, basso-ons and the like may be constructed.

Clarinets are usually made from three general types of materials: grenadilla wood, hard rubber (ebonite) or molded plastic. Higher quality clarinets are generally made only from grenadilla wood, however. This is also true of oboes, English horns, bassoons and some types of wood flutes. Grenadilla wood is grown in Africa and is becoming quite scarce and increasingly expensive. It

must be stored for many months under appropriate atmospheric conditions before it is suitable for making Woodwinds. In addition, there is a great deal of spoilage during machining of the rough shapes of grenadilla wood into the required tubular shapes, much of this waste resulting from the release of internal stress within the wood caused by changing its outside shape. Even after the most ideal conditions of seasoning, machining and choice of wood grain, there is no assurance that a grenadi-lla wood instrument body will not crack. A climatic change or a change in temperature or humidity is apt to cause the instrument to shrink, expand or crack. Moisture usually collects inside the bore and in the tone holes when the woodwind is played upon. If the player should fail to dry his instrument thoroughly before putting it in the case, the chances of its cracking are still greater.

It is an object of this invention to provide a material to replace grenadilla wood in the production of clarinets and other non-metallic wind instruments. This invention also provides a substitute material for making Woodwinds which is less expensive than grenadilla wood and which exhibits acoustical properties markedly superior to ebon' ite or molded plastics, and epen to grenadilla wood itself.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a process for making non-metallic woodwind bodies, and more specifically, for making a clarinet body having improved characteristics. In addition, this invention also provides a new and unique woodwind body which possesses the characteristics of being impermeable to moisture and of resisting breakage due to mishandling. Since the woodwind body of this invention does'not absorb moisture, it will not chink, crack, shrink or swell. Moreover, the specific gravity of the material from which the woodwind bodies are made may be lowered by a modification of the process for making such bodies. These and other objects implicit in the description of this specification are accomplished by providing a non-metallic woodwind instrument body having a generally tubular configuration and having a smooth bore running longitudinally therethrough. The body of the woodwind comprises a plurality of unitarily combined, resin-impregnated fibers oriented parallel the longitudinal axis of the woodwind body. The fiber from which that body is made is selected from the group consisting of either resin fibers such as polyester, polyamide, polypropylene or acrylic resin fibers, or fibers'of cotton, sisal or glass.

The process for preparing the woodwind instrument body described in the preceding paragraph, comprises coating a suitable fiber with a suitable resin which may 3,368,795 Patented Mar. 14, 1967 2 have incorporated thereina resin-compatible pigment of any desired color. The coated filament is wound on a frame or other device, forming a section of a resin-impregnated material the fibers of which are closely superposed. The successive arrayed loops of the fi-ber are unidirectionally oriented. A second section of .i-mpreg-. nated material is then formed, preferably in the same manner (winding resin-coated filament on a frame or the like). The two of these sections are pressed together in a mold having at least one channel formed therein conforming to the configuration of the woodwind body and havinga substantially cylindrical core inserted between the two sections of impregnated material. The core is positioned coaxially within the channel of the mold; and the pressing operationis carried out at a temperature and at a pressure for a period of time such that a unitary body having a tubular configuration is formed, the unitarily combined fibers of the resin-impregnated material being oriented parallel the longitudinal axis of the molded body. The body is removed from the mold and post-cured if necessary. The core is then removed from the molded body, the bore of which is machined to the desired shape. Tone holes are also machined in the body.

In the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of that part of the invention herein relating to the preparation of sections of resin-impregnated material;

FIG. 2 is an isometric projection of the mold suitable for the preparation of a plurality of woodwind instrument bodies; v

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view showing the orientation of the molds and cores of the apparatus for forming woodwind bodies; and

FIG. 4 is an end elevation view of the molds and cores as they are arrayed during the pressing operation of the process of this invention.

The process for the preparation of woodwind bodies of this invention will be described in greater detail, reference being had to the drawings. It should be emphasized that the description provided herein as well as the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is in large part illustrative and many variations and modifications may be made without departing from the basic concept which constitutes the invention herein. The first major phase of the inventive process is the preparation of the resin-impregnated material referred to above. Referring to FIG. 1, two 7 /2 pound spools 10, 11 of plastic fiber are placed in ametal oven 12, which is maintained at a temperature of about 280 F. The plastic fiber used may be either a polyester resin fiber, preferably Dacron or Vycron (1100 denier) a po-lyamide resin fiber, preferably nylon, polypropylene, acrylic or glass filament. Cotton or sisal fibers may also be employed. The oven heating serves to drive accumulated moisture from filaments 13, 1 4 and also serves to heat them to an elevated temperature at which they will have a greater affinity for the resin which is subsequently applied. Filaments 13, 14 leave oven 12 through two tubes 15, 16 which act as filament guides. i The filaments 13, 14 then enter a chamber 17 through orifices 18, 19 which are just large enough to permit these filaments to enter. Within chamber 17, the filaments are coated with a resin, preferably an epoxy resin, which is fed into the chamber through the funnel 20. In addition to epoxy resins, phenolic, urea, polyamide and polyester resins may also be employed.

The coated filaments leave chamber 17 by passing through exit orifices 21, 22, the diameter of which is such as to permit a predetermined amount of resin to remain on the filament. Thus, when 1100 denier fiber and a resin with a viscosity of 1500 cps. are used, an orifice opening of .024 in. yields a fiber to resin ratio of about 3 one to one, when the filament is drawn from the chamber at a rate of about 300 feet per minute. When different denier fibers are used, other exit orifice sizes are substituted depending upon the viscosity of the coating resin and the speed at which the winding operation is to be carried out.

The filaments 13, 14, now coated with epoxy resin, pass through an optional device 23 which wipes off the excess resin and unites the two filaments into one unitary strand (hereinafter referred to by the numeral 13'). Strand 13' is then wound on frame '24 by a process of arraying and supe'rposing successive loops of the strand 13' on a rotating frame 24. Other means may be utilized to array the successive strands of fiber evenly, yielding a layer of material 25, the fibers of which are closely superposed and unidirectionally oriented. The rotating frame method appears most suitable, however. wFrame 24 may be turned by hand or with a suitable electric motor. Even arraying of successive loops of strand l3"may be achieved by standard camming and laterally reciprocating strand guide means (not shown). The density of the resulting material may be lowered to a suitable level by the introduction of micro-balloons (a form-of resin filler the particles of which are hollow spheres into the impregnated filaments during winding. Such introduction may be elfected by either adding the micro-balloons to the resin prior to the coating step, or by dusting the filaments with the filler as they are arrayed 'on frame 24.

I When a section of impregnated material 25 of the desired thickness is obtained, the frame 24 is removed from the rotating apparatus and the section 25 is removed from frame 24 and set aside, preferably on cellophane or the like. At least two such sections are required in order to proceed with the process for making the woodwind body. Section 25 may be cut in two, but it is preferred that the required second section be. formed separately on frame 24 by an additional operation.

The next stage in the over-all process is the pressing and forming of two sections of impregnated material in an appropriate mold to form the woodwind body. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the bottom mold 26 and top mold 27 which comprises the over-all mold, will yield 6 woodwind bodies in one pressing operation. It is to be understood that molds may be used which will produce one body, or more than one body at a time, depending upon the size of the sections of resin-impregnated material used and upon other manufacturing specifications. Top mold 27 is virtually identical to bottom mold 26. Pre-stressed aluminum or other suitable material is used in the construction of molds 26, 27, the size depending upon the woodwind which it is desired to fabricate and the number of bodies to be produced in one operation.

For the preparation of 6 bodies for B fiat clarinets, a mold 2.4 x 12" X 2 is prepared: six half-round channels or cavities 28, 29 are milled lengthwise in the blocks of metal.. For B flat clarinets, each channel is 1% in. wide by /16 in. deep; the'channels are separated by a fin 30 approximately .010 in. wide. End brackets 31, 32, 33, 34 are secured to the ends of the molds; guide pins 35, 35,37, 33 and provided in brackets 31, 32 of bottom mold 26 and guide pin sockets 3?, 4t), 41, 42 are drilled inappropriate locations in the brackets 33,34 at each end of top mold 27. The guide pins and sockets are placed so that the bottom mold 26 and top mold 27 will be positioned correctly with respect to each other during the pressing operation: the channels 28, 29 of the over-all structure will each define a cylinder for the 'entire length of the molds 25, 27. The end elevation view of the correct orientation of molds 26, 27 is shown in FIG. 4.

Brackets 31, 3 2 are provided with openings 43 corresponding to each channel 28 of the molds to which situated such that viewed end on (FIG. 4), the opening 43 is exactly coaxial to each channel 28. Openings 43 are placed in this position so that each will receive a core 44 which will lie on the longitudinal axis of each channel 28. Cores 44 should be longer than the molds 26, 27: 26 in. for the molds described for the preparation of B fiat clarinet bodies. The core diameter should approximate the diameter of the bore of the woodwind which. is being prepared: in the specific case discussed, the core should have an outer diameter of 0.576 in. at one end, tapering gradually (0.001 in. per in.) to 0.550 in. This taper facilitates later removal of core 44.

Having been prepared as described, molds 26, 27 are fastened to the heated platens of a press. When the temperature of molds 26, 27 has reached the pressing temperature, they are ready for receipt of two sheets or sections of impregnated material 25, 25A. Layers of cellophane 45, 4 6 are placed on each mold half (26 and 27). The bottom section of material 25A is placed on top of cellophane 45 and carefully tucked into the channels 28 of 'mold 26, causing material 25A to conform to the 6 channels ofthat mold as described herein. The section of material 25A is oriented on mold 26in a way such that the unidirectional fibers of which the said material is composed are lying parallel the longitudinal axis of the channels 28. Six cores 4-4, which have been preheated to the pressing temperature and which have been coated with a release agent, are placed in their respective bracket openings 43 so that each core will lie on the longitudinal axis of each channel 28. A second sheet of impregnated material 25 is placed on top of cores 44 and a second layer of cellophane 46 is placed on this section of material 25. Again, the material 25 (like bottom sheet 25A) is oriented such that the direction of the unitarily combined fibers is parallel the longitudinal axis of the channels 28. The press (not shown) is closed, the top mold 27 being guided into position by fitting guide pins 35, etc. into sockets 39, etc. The pressing operation is carried out at a temperature at a pressure and for a period of time such that a plurality of tubular bodies is formed by joining of the top and bottom sections of impregnated material. A pressing temperature from about 200 F. to 400 F. is most suitable. For an epoxy resin coating, a temperature of about 320 F. is preferred. A pressure of from 15 to 1000 p.s.i. may be employed, depending on the type of resin used; but p.s.i. is the preferred pressure for epoxy and polyester resins. The preferred pressing time is about /2 hour; the pressing time is, of course, a function of temperature, pressure and type of resin. Generally, a time range of from about A to 2 hours will effect the joinder and hardening of the impregnated sections.

The pressing operation forms a plurality of tubes (the number depending naturally upon the number of channels 2'3 milled in molds 2'6, 27). These tubes are joined to each other by thin strips of resin-impregnated material 25 which has been formed by the pressure of ad jacent fins 30 of the molds 2'6, 2'7. The tubes may be separated from each other subsequent to removal of the pressed material from the molds. Before removing cores 44, the tubes of material 25) should be post-cured for a suitable period of time at an appropriate temperature. Some polyester resins cure at room temperature; other resins require an elevated temperature. Best results are obtained by post-curing epoxy resin-impregnated bodies at about 270 F. for a period of from 15 to 16 hours. After curing, the tubes are cooled gradually to room temperature and the cores 44 are then removed.

The resulting tubes are machined and finished to produce the desired woodwind instrument body, Machining comprises forming tone holes at appropriate locations in the woodwind body, and reaming the bore of each tube to the desired shape. The tubes are also cut to the required lengths. Keys, rings and other mechanical attachments are located on the body to complete the instrument.

The bell section of clarinets and other non-cylindrically shaped sections of other wind instruments may be prepared with the impregnated material of this invention in specially prepared molds and with appropriately formed cores.

It may be desirable to produce non-metallic wood- Winds in which the bore comprises resin-impregnated glass fiber. The glass lining will create desirable acoustical effects and will provide a smooth, water resistant surface from which moisture will drain more easily. The glass lining may be optionally added to the bore of the woodwind body by either wrapping cores 44 with epoxy resin-impregnated glass fabric or by wrapping these cores with a resin-coated glass fiber. When the mold is closed around cores 44, the heat and pressure cause the resin-impregnated glass fabric to become an integral part of the woodwind body.

Recurring to the winding operation discussed earlier, if the filaments 13, 14 are coated with a clear epoxy resin, the heating and curing steps will cause the resulting tubes to take on an amber or light wood grain color. By adding a resin compatible black pigment to the epoxy resin, the finished woodwind body will have the black and grained appearance of grenadilla wood.

I claim:

1. A non-metallic Woodwind instrument body having a tubular configuration comprising a plurality of unitarily combined, resin-impregnated plastic fibers, said plastic fibers oriented substantially parallel the longitudinal axis of said instrument body.

2. A non-metallic woodwind instrument body having a tubular configuration and having a bore extending longitudinally therethrough comprising a plurality of unitarily combined, epoxy resin-impregnated plastic fibers, said fibers oriented substantially parallel the longitudinal axis of said instrument body, and a glass fabric lining laminated to the interior wall of said body.

3. A non-metallic woodwind instrument body having a tubular configuration comprising a plurality of unitarily combined, resin-impregnated fibers, said fibers oriented substantially parallel the longitudinal axis of said in- 5 strument body, the resin with which said fibers are impregnated selected from the group of resins consisting of epoxy, phenolic, polyamide, polyester and urea resins, said fibers selected from the group consisting of polyester resin fibers, polyamide resin fibers, polypropylene resin fibers, acrylic resin fibers, cotton, sisal and glass fibers.

4. A clarinet body having a generally tubular configuration comprising plurality of unitarily combined, epoxy resin-impregnated plastic fibers oriented substantially parallel the longitudinal axis of said clarinet body, said fibers selected from the group consisting of polyester resin fibers, polyamide resin fibers, polypropylene resin fibers, acrylic resin fibers, cotton, sisal and glass fibers.

5. A clarinet body having a generally tubular configuration and having a bore extending longitudinally therethrough comprising a plurality of unitarily combined, epoxy resin-impregnated plastic fibers oriented substantially parallel the longitudinal axis of said clarinet body, and an epoxy resin-impregnated glass fabric lining laminated to the interior wall of'said bore, said fiber selected from the group consisting of polyester resin fibers, polyamide resin fibers, acrylic resin fibers, cotton, sisal and glass fibers.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,596,260 5/1952 Linton 84-380 2,730,003 1/1956 Loney 843 2,815,534 12/1957 Ising et al 264-257 2,977,268 3/ 1961 Randolph 264-257 3,017,798 1/1962 Robbins 84-382 3,035,473 5/1962 Mazzeo 84-382 3,094,032 6/1963 Linton 84-380 3,127,806 4/1964 Fox 84-380 OTHER REFERENCES Molded Student Clarinet, PTM Magazine, page 38, February 1960.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

LEO SMILOW, Examiner.

C. M. OV ERB EY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A NON-METALLIC WOODWIND INSTRUMENT BODY HAVING A TUBULAR CONFIGURATION COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF UNITARILY COMBINED, RESIN-IMPREGNATED PLASTIC FIBERS, SAID PLASTIC FIBERS ORIENTED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID INSTRUMENT BODY. 